Annabeth's Rundown on Runes
by TheShadowhuntingDemigod
Summary: Annabeth and Rachel head to New York City to investigate an increase of empousai in Brooklyn. When the two find themselves in a sticky situation, a certain two Shadowhunters swing in to help. Well. This will be interesting. Or just awkward. (Cont. to Percy's Day of Demonhunting)
1. Chapter 1

Annabeth cried out. The empousa lunged forward on its mismatched legs, hissing at her with fangs like a vampire's. The girl dodged the attack, swinging around with her bronze dagger in hand. The creature looked up at her with gleaming red eyes from its spot against the wall. With a sly smile, it grabbed onto a pipe and shinnied up the back of the building, disappearing into the darkness.

Annabeth grumbled, sheathing her dagger. The brick wall before her was desolate and scarred by years of New York City traffic. She brought her fist up to slam it and call the empousa back down, but hesitated. She lowered her hand with a sigh, knowing it was no good. "What was that?" She said. "The tenth? Eleventh?"

"Twelfth," replied Rachel, splitting from the shadows. She was much better at that since she had become the Oracle. Was it some sort of creepy power that came with the job? She didn't know. "Twelve empousai that ran away after they attacked us. That's not counting the other twenty we killed."

"So what do we do now?"Annabeth asked, running a hand through her blonde curls. "All the empousai are scurrying up walls and disappearing. We can't catch them, and honestly, it would be counterproductive to try."

"It's your call, wise girl," Rachel said. "You're the genius here, not me." Annabeth shot her a glance. She hadn't wanted to take the obnoxious redhead with her on her hunting trip. She had asked for _Percy,_ but he was busy counseling a new batch of campers that week. He had begged Mr. D to out that up to Clarisse or another senior camper, but the god was adamant (how he got past the big, sea green puppy-dog eyes, Annabeth would never know). And technically, she was busy with counseling too, but Chiron had offered for her to take over a mission involving empousai overrunning the city. So of course, she accepted. Little did she know that the centaur had made the infamous Oracle of Delphi follow along. Annabeth wasn't comfortable with it, but she didn't say anything. Although the tension between herself and Rachel had diminished, it was still there.

"It's late," Annabeth decided. "We should get back to Camp. Tell Chiron-"

"Tell Chiron what?" Interrupted Rachel. "That the mission was just too hard for us to complete? That we went home because it was getting _dark_ outside?"

The blonde girl set her jaw. She hated this. If she went too far or too deep into the city, the empousai would overwhelm them and the mission would be lost. But if she turned back now, her pride would be bruised for years to come.

"Fine," she said. "Counter-productivity, here we come."

They climbed the pipe up the side of the building, slipping on the smooth metal, but finding hand- and footholds on the rims of pipe segments. Finally they reached the roof of what smelled to be an Italian restaurant. "There must have been an easier way to do that," remarked Rachel, panting.

"There was," said Annabeth. "But we're letting inefficiency be our guide, remember?"

The girl nodded and rolled her eyes, moving to the edge of the roof. The view was stopped short here and there by taller buildings and skyscrapers. Annabeth didn't know what she expected to see, and nothing presented itself to her as important or strange. Mostly just darkness, despite the lights of the city. She scratched her head, but hadn't a clue what she planned on doing. "The empousa must have crossed onto a nearby building, or else she wouldn't have climbed up here." Her mind began to link the gaps between what she knew and what she didn't. She turned to see the surrounding buildings. There was only one close enough to jump onto, even for an empousa.

She pointed. "There."

It was a few feet away, easily crossable if they jumped. Annabeth did first, taking a few steps back, then sprinting and launching herself over the edge, using the low wall as leverage. Her sneaker left the roof and for a moment she was airborne. Then she stumbled onto the roof of the other building, gaining stability as she jogged forward. She stopped for a breath, looking out over the city. Rachel joined her and they nodded, leaping onto the next building, and the next.

Then they came to a crossroads: three buildings, one on each side. Rachel and Annabeth stood there, hands on their hips, examining their choices. Annabeth shook her head. "Now what?"

"I'll say this again," the Oracle replied. '"It's your call, wise girl.'"

She sighed and scratched her blonde hair. If Percy was there, maybe he could've done something about this. He was a better fighter, and-

Uccchh. Annabeth made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat. Now she sounded like she was inseparable from her boyfriend. She had seen other couples clinging to each other like life preservers and despised every disgusting minute of their presence. She loved Percy- more than almost anything in the world- but there was no way in Tartarus she would become dependent on him.

But the situation hadn't lessened. Annabeth had to think; where would an ugly, odd-legged she-devil go?

She looked at her choices. Building A was taller than this one, almost impossible to reach. She turned; Building B was an abandoned office complex with crumbling dry wall, the wooden structure visible underneath. The young demigod wasn't sure if she wanted to walk on that rickety roof anyways. Building C was low, a long drop to the rooftop. It wasn't unstable, but she wasn't sure if the empousa would be able to land with its awkward leg pairing.

That counted Building C out. Building A was tall, but sturdy, and Building B was about the right height, but dangerously unstable. Annabeth tried to imagine the empousa on that. It would be difficult for it, but the creatures were surprisingly light on their feet. It could make it. But it would also be able to pull itself up onto the roof of Building A.

Annabeth tapped her chin, almost at a conclusion, she knew it. Wherever the empousa went, it was trying to kill the demigods, or trap them at least. Building A would give it higher ground, but if that was what the monster was seeking, it would've jumped on the girls from that first roof.

She turned to Building B. There were gaping holes peppered across the roof, and many more to come judging by the way the wooden frame lay visible beneath the surface of the dry wall like a starving ribcage beneath the skin.

That had to be where the empousa had gone.

Annabeth called to Rachel and the girls stood by the edge of the roof, debating.

"This has to be where it went."

"Uh yeah, that's great, but I'm not walking on _that_!" Rachel threw her arm out like a Frisbee.

"You have to trust me on this," Annabeth said. "You don't actually want to go back to camp without even trying, do you?"

"I may never get back to camp if I follow you!"

"Just-" Annabeth softened her tone, realizing it had grown an edge. "P…" her Fatal Flaw kept her from saying it too often, but she spit it out. "Please."

Rachel eyed her. "Since when do you care about this quest?"

"It's not even a quest, really. Well it is, but compared to-"

"Yeah, I get it," Rachel interrupted. "You took down the Titans, pretty big quest, now get on with it."

"I've cared about this quest," Annabeth said, "since I decided that going home without figuring out these empousai's weirdness would be an epic fail."

"Homer epic?"

"Homer epic." The blonde girl affirmed. "At least to me."

"Right- cocky Athena crap, I remember."

"Will you just come one?"

"Fine, but you're going first." Rachel said.

Annabeth bit down on her lip- not from fear, but from frustration. Why did everything that girl did get on her nerves? It was like a bug skittering up her shirt whenever she spoke, or nails digging into a chalkboard whenever she smiled. What made her so… aggravating?

She knew. What made Rachel so aggravating was Rachel. She was always hovering over Percy's shoulder like a protective queen bee; one that would sting hard if someone tried to take her guy. Well Percy wasn't her guy. He never had been. He was Annabeth's, and that was… also scarily protective. Annabeth massaged her temples and refocused on her plan. She braced her feet against the edge of the roof.

"Well, counter-productivity, looks like we're friends now." And jumped.

Her heel dipped over the lip of the building. She balanced, eyes closed, and stood up again. She stepped forward, gingerly laying her foot where the roof seemed more stable. She made her way a few more steps.

Then something slammed into her and she fell.

The ceiling caved in beneath her and she tumbled into the debris. And then she stopped. Why wasn't she falling? She looked up to find a ball of red frizz gripping her ankle and swearing into the abyss. Rachel. The Oracle groaned, doing her best to keep hold of Annabeth.

"You're really heavy!" She shouted.

Annabeth scanned her upside-down surroundings for a way to help the smaller girl. Rachel was a big part of Camp Half-Blood, but she wasn't a demigod; she hadn't been trained for strength or speed or stamina. Her arms would give out and send Annabeth into the dark, moldy hole beneath her. _Like falling into Tarturus_, Annabeth thought. Hopefully she'd never have to know what that was like.

Then a thought struck her: what had knocked her into this hole in the first place? The grim realization dawned on the blonde girl. She craned her neck to look at Rachel. "_You!_"

Rachel turned tomato red- perhaps that was just from the exertion of holding up a sixteen-year-old girl. "I'm sorry!" She blurted. "I'm so sorry, I- I didn't mean it!"

"Give me one good reason I should believe that!"

"Reason one: you're still alive!"

Annabeth growled. "How much longer can you hold?" She asked.

Rachel paused, considering. "Not long. Please hurry." Her voice was strained and it was obvious that she no longer had the capacity to keep her grip. Annabeth felt sweaty fingers grasping her ankle again and again.

Her heart accelerated. _Think…_

There was a wall not far from her, a bit beyond the reach of the hole. She scrabbled at the face of the wall, trying to grab onto something, but it was useless, the most she could do was scrape her fingers on the narrow ledge between brick and mortar. Her heart pounded in her ears and she wondered- why wasn't she falling?

Rachel was still holding on, grunting and breathless. Annabeth tried desperately to swing back up onto the building but she wasn't strong enough, not with the deep cut left by the empousa on her abdomen. She felt the blood seeping through her orange t-shirt, now more than ever. She gulped at the air, pushing all her power into swinging back onto the roof and struggling to grab the edge of the hole. Every time, her fingers slipped and chunks of cement and dry wall sprinkled onto her face, scraping it in places. Her arms and chest were drenched in sweat. She felt Rachel gasp as her hands slid up Annabeth's ankle.

Time slowed down in her head. This was it. Rachel was gripping her foot now, her palms slick and her entire body flushed. There was no way she could hold for longer than a few seconds. Then Annabeth would drop like a stone into the moldy, rat-infested chasm, grinning beneath her. It was several-dozen feet to the ground; the girl could hear her body crunching against the concrete when she hit the bottom. She looked around; none of her wisdom could get her out of there. None of her wisdom could save her. She prayed to the gods for help but she knew there would be none. The only person who cared enough to save her now was…

_Percy,_ she thought, and her lips parted. And she fell.


	2. Chapter 2

It happened in an instant.

For one second she could only see the blackness stretching down past the floor, and wondered whether or not she was going to get E-Z Death. And in the next second there was a light, coming right at her as she fell. Just when she thought it was going to stop, it slammed into her, stealing the breath from her lungs. It swung her up, past the breach in the ceiling. That was impossible… it must have been a trick. Her gray eyes fluttered shut and she imagined the talking-to she would give Hades when this was all over. When they were open again she saw the lights of New York City twinkling like fireflies.

And a girl standing over her, knife in hand. _Oh no, _Annabeth thought. There was no way she had gone through everything she had over the past five years to nearly die on a minor quest, and then get mugged and stabbed by some prosti-

"Hey there," the girl wiggled her long fingers. "I see you fell in a hole."

Annabeth groaned, sitting up. She was sprawled on the roof of the same building she had fallen into, a few feet from the gaping hole. She scooted farther away from it. The girl before her was probably around her age, but she looked like a woman. She was tall, and loftily built, curved in all the right places, her dark hair hanging to her waist. She could've been in the Aphrodite cabin without a second thought.

But no- Aphrodites didn't have black tattoos curling up their arms and collarbones. And Aphrodites never held knives like that. This girl held the glowing, white dagger in her hand with a trained arm, her fingers wrapped skillfully around the hilt. She knew how to use that weapon, and many more too- and she wasn't afraid of doing so, either.

"Can you talk- does she talk?" Her first statement was directed at Annabeth, but then she turned her head to speak to someone next to her.

"Too much," the person replied. "And she's very bossy."

Annabeth narrowed her eyes at Rachel. The girl shrugged unapologetically.

"That's fine," said another girl. "You can always outrun the people you don't like and use them as bait."

Annabeth turned and narrowed her eyes at… Rachel.

She blinked, looking back and forth between the two. What?

"I know," said the tall girl in the center, reading her thoughts. "Freaky, right?"

Upon second inspection, Annabeth noticed that there were not, in fact, two Rachels (thank the gods), but rather Rachel, and a girl who looked quite like her. She had the same red hair, big, green eyes, and petite frame; but there were differences. The other girl looked older, maybe by a year or two, and had a good deal of muscle packed around her small figure. She also had the strange tattoos etched into her pale skin

"I'm just kidding," said the girl, extending her hand. "My name's Clary. Hope you don't hate me."

Annabeth didn't have a reply to that just yet. She shook Clary's hand anyway. She too had a glowing dagger in her hand. What were they made of? They were translucent, but not made of glass, and they radiated a strange sort of shimmering light. The edge looked deadly sharp, and she was sure this girl knew how to use it.

The black-haired girl offered her hand likewise. "Isabelle. But you can call me 'Your Savior.'"

The daughter of Athena accepted her hand, mulling over the past few moments.

"You saved me?" She asked.

"That's what 'Your Savior' means."

"But then- how? Where were you?"

Isabelle crawled to the edge of the hole. She looked around for a moment, and then pointed inside, grinning.

Annabeth shook her head. "Why would you be in there? This building is too unstable to safely enter."

The girl tucked away her knife, the light snuffed out in layers of black clothing. "The same reason _you_ were on the roof." She walked a few steps, as if the hotel wasn't collapsing beneath her. "And who said anything about '_safely_'?"

With that, she yanked the smaller girl- Clary- to her feet. "Let's go, Fray. Business to handle and whatnot."

"I guess we're pretty lucky you were here," Annabeth said. "Which pops the question: why didn't you help us before I started falling to my death?"

Isabelle turned, rolling her eyes. "Well, Miss Sassypants, not every rescue mission happens that quickly. We had to set up the rope, and in a building this old, that is a difficult thing to do. You know, _safely._"

Now Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Thanks for that."

"Anytime," the girl called from the other side of the roof. "And try not to find yourself on a dilapidated rooftop again, as that can be a very dangerous highway to death."

"I've been on a highway to death," she muttered. "And it sure as Hades doesn't look like an old hotel."

Rachel poked her shoulder and raised her brow. She shook it off. Isabelle gestured for her little companion to leave with her.

"Should we really be leaving them alone?" Clary said. "This is not the safest place to be hanging out around."

Isabelle squeezed the hilt of the dagger protruding from her belt. "Well…"

Clary turned to the two campers. "Why were the two of you up here?" Her voice hardened.

Annabeth looked to Rachel and Rachel looked to Annabeth. "We were chasing something."

"What?"

"It was… more or less a…"

In that moment, a creature dragged itself onto the roof from within the hole, lugging a bronze leg behind it. It stood and faced the girls, baring its scarlet fangs.

"That," Rachel finished.

It charged. Annabeth ducked, drawing her bronze dagger. The empousa spun around her and snapped at her neck. The girl, still facing the other way, swept out her arm and brought the weapon down onto its neck. It hit home, passing through its esophagus, the tip protruding wretchedly from its throat. The wound bubbled with crimson blood and the creature coughed, more blood squalling from its mouth. Annabeth turned and loosened her dagger, wiping it on her T-shirt.

"That was quick."

At that moment, another pale-faced creature erupted from the hole. This one, to Annabeth's surprise, lacked the trademark, mismatched legs and feminine appearance of an average empousa. It glared at the group of warriors on the rooftop before grinning, revealing needle-sharp fangs. "I see the Nephilim have found friends," he purred. "Interesting. I thought I smelled blood on the roof."

He pointed to the pile of ash at their feet that once was the empousa. "A fallen comrade?" He asked. Then his nostrils flared. "No. Not of mine."

He took a step closer. Isabelle drew her knife. "You're not comrades with anybody."

"No," he said surprised, as if just recalling this fact. "No, not at all. But I did not mention it being _my _fallen comrade. Did I?"

"We don't keep vampires as-" Isabelle stopped short. The rooftop became still. And silent. The only movement was her long hair fluttering in the wind.

_Vampires? _Annabeth wondered. She supposed that was the name mortals gave to the empousai they found. But was this an empousa? And were these mortals? She doubted both.

"Really?" Asked the… empousa, surprised. "You do not keep vampires as- what? Comrades? Pets? Because you certainly seem attached to that traitorous Daylighter-"

"_Sammael!_"

There was a movement and a streak of light out of the corner of her eye and the empousa fell, scarlet blood flooding from its heart before it crumbled to ashes, joining the heap already on the ground. Annabeth turned to find Clary with her arm poised in a throwing position. She brushed off her palms and retrieved her glowing knife. Her lips were pressed firmly together; she was pissed.

Isabelle said, "We weren't supposed to-"

"I know," was the girl's reply. She sheathed her dagger and faced the other way. Definitely pissed.

"Interesting," noted Annabeth.

Isabelle and Clary, as if remembering their company, exchanged a glance. "I don't suppose you… know what a Shadowhunter is?"

The demigod shook her head. The Oracle shook hers.

"Where'd you learn to fight?" Isabelle inquired.

"Where did you?"

Rachel peered at the strange girls. "I think we can all agree that that was not an empousa, and that is not something mortals do," she said. "So say it loud, say it proud, you're… Nephilim?" She looked to the daughter of Athena. "Do you have any clue what that is?"

Annabeth shook her head. "But they do."


	3. Chapter 3

Isabelle and Clary didn't reply, although both of them had a hand on their belts.

"Perhaps we shouldn't do this on the roof."

Annabeth cocked her head, "Why shouldn't we?"

Isabelle gritted her teeth. "Because you little-"

"_Because,_" Clary interjected. "No one needs to get hurt. Yet. We should figure this out somewhere safer where no one will down any more holes."

One moment. Two. Three. They all agreed.

The girls found a way down the face of the building. Four sets of feet slapped onto the pavement. They entered an abandoned office across the street, swinging through the shattered windows to stand in the lobby. The only light filtered in through the transom; a billion little bulbs from Manhattan, and trillion more from the moon. The Hunters were probably out and about beneath their maiden's glow. Annabeth turned to face the two girls. "So what's it gonna be?"

"More than mundies," noted Isabelle, looking down. "We can be sure of that."

Mundies? Mortals?

"How?" Clary asked.

Isabelle gestured to the campers. "Look at what they did. Look at how they handled that. No mundane does that."

"What are you getting at?" Her eyes narrowed.

"I'm getting at," Isabelle hissed, "taking a step away from this."

The redhead crossed her arms. "No. We can't do that. Jace brought me in when he was ninety percent sure I was-"

"WHOA," the other girl held out her arms and shook her head. "Whoa. No. No way. Jace has nothing to do with this. You saw what we dealt with because of that; you saw the reaction of not only the Clave, but everyone else too. We aren't going to risk our place in the Clave _again _for these two. There's way too much crap going on already, we don't need any more. And might I mention Jace was in _love _with you? That's another difference."

Annabeth was intrigued by this discussion, her gray eyes watching each volley by the strange girls. Several names caught her attention like _Clave, _and _Jace, _but she decided not to ask. It was better to watch.

"You know as well as I do we can't just leave them," Clary said. "That's too risky."

"And you know as well as I do we can't just take them," Isabelle countered. "That's even riskier."

Tension rose like high-tide in the small lobby. Every second grew more dangerous. They were at a standstill. The two girls weren't the only ones with a decision to make, however. Annabeth had to decide where to go from here as well.

She scratched her chin, taking in her surroundings in the case of an urgent escape. The walls were smooth, perhaps a little moldy, and there was no furniture in the room at all. She noticed a hall protruding from the side with a narrow opening. It was dark, shunned from the moonlight. Her mind was drawn to it and she put her hand on Rachel's shoulder. The girl jumped.

"Give us a minute," Annabeth said, and dragged her little friend across the room. They took a few steps into the hallway and she turned to face her, arms crossed.

"What?" Rachel asked. "Why are you looking at me?"

"Because you got us into this," was her reply.

"What! I'm not the one who fell into a hole! You couldn't expect me to hold out any longer."

"No, but I _should _haveexpected you to run into me and knock me into the mess."

"Well I apologize if I don't happen to be as graceful and coordinated as the great, wonderful child of a GOD."

Annabeth opened her mouth to reply, but then shut it, realizing there was no point in arguing. There was something behind Rachel's words that made it seem more than a helpless insult. She sighed and peered around the corner. Clary and Isabelle were still there. They were serious. If their glowing blades and black, leather gear didn't say it, their presence did.

"We should tell them about what's going on," said Rachel.

Annabeth twirled to look at her, incredulity evident in her gray eyes. The other girl backed off a step. "Or at least about the empousai."

"We shouldn't tell them a_nything_."

Rachel crossed her arms and looked at her, frustrated. "Really Annie? This isn't like any normal situation."

"Which is exactly why we should tell them _nothing_!" Her eyes were wider than ever. "They're obviously up to something-"

"They're not up to anything," the other girl scoffed.

"Look, just because we found your scary twin doesn't mean we should trust her or her friend."

"Does she look that much like me?" Rachel peeped her head around the corner. She raised her hands to her breasts self-consciously. "Dam." Annabeth slapped her wrist and she returned her attention sourly.

"Now is not the time." The girl brushed blonde hair from her face. "We've got to do something. They're either our enemies or our friends out there; we could be in grave danger."

"…Or, we could have backup with these empousai."

The thought struck her. If she could trust them…

Annabeth peered out of the hallway with a weary expression. The two, tattooed girls stood patiently in the other room, checking their weapons and...Filing their nails with them. At least, the tall one was. They seemed oblivious and at the same time, itching for a reply. It seems they had already come to a conclusion. For all her wisdom, Annabeth couldn't be sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing… yet.


	4. Chapter 4

With a frustrated sigh, she turned back to Rachel. "I guess… we don't have the upper hand with those empousai. Maybe, with two more…"

The girl smiled slyly from behind her red hair. "I knew you'd cave."

Annabeth threw her a bitter look. '"Knew' as in freaky, Oracle of Delphi crap, or 'knew' as in annoying, bratty ginger crap?"

Rachel tapped her chin. "Maybe one, maybe the other. You never know when the freaky Oracle of Delphi is inside an annoying, bratty ginger."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. We're going to trust these girls- but if you and your doppelganger start raising Kronos or something, I'm gonna have a big, fat I-Told-You-So to chuck at your face when this is over."

"All right, I accept that. So are you ready to fight some ugly vampires?"

They strode back into the room. "We have a problem," Annabeth piped up. Rachel opened her mouth, about to dive into a whirlwind of information, but Annabeth held up a hand to silence her. "We have a few… monsters to catch. But they keep escaping. We can't find them anywhere. That's why we were on that roof and eventually… in it." She made a little plunging motion with her hand. "We also have another problem. You two."

Isabelle pulled her blade but Clary held her back. "We also have a problem, as you heard," the girl explained. "A few rogue… 'monsters' have been terrorizing the city. That guy you just met had a hand in giving us that problem. We don't know how many there are, and we can't kill them all. But maybe with a little help…"

"We could both get what we want," finished Annabeth. The girl backed off, nodding.

"You don't have to accept," she said. "But if you don't, then there's a good chance we'll follow you back to wherever you came from."

"And bury a knife in your back." Isabelle assured. Clary elbowed her, but the message had been received.

The blonde girl nodded. She turned the idea over in her head. Could she trust these girls? They were dressed in black, holding _knives,_ and they had just killed somebody with them- monster or not. There was every reason to doubt, she thought. But no, she had promised she would trust them.

That was a big deal. Annabeth wasn't the trusting type. She had been through a lot in her young life: her mother being more than human, the gap between her and her father, Thalia being turned into a tree, Thalia no longer being a tree, countless deaths, Luke betraying everyone. The last one hurt the most. All these things… they gave her trust issues. Percy had an effect on her that somewhat mended the scars, but he wasn't around right now, so…

If only he was.

But now Annabeth could do something on her own. She could trust someone… on her own.

Well, she wasn't entirely alone. There was Rachel. She was another cause for trust issues. Maybe if this ended with both of them alive, and a pile of slain empousai at their feet, she would have less of a problem with the girl.

At the moment, they were standing face-to-face with a potential enemy. Two skilled warriors with weapons- and possibly backup. They had a story. Annabeth knew a lot, but she didn't know who or what these girls were. Not monsters, necessarily. Not demigods. Not actual gods. Not naiads or dryads or anything of that sort. They seemed… human. Mortal. But unfamiliar power almost glowed from their marked skin. She couldn't put her finger on why.

"Are you going to tell us anything about yourselves?" Annabeth inquired.

"Are you?" replied Clary.

The blonde girl nodded. "Right. No questions policy. If anyone objects," she pulled the dagger from her belt. "Say 'I.'"

No one did.

Isabelle smiled. "Then let's go vampire hunting."

The four warriors made their way to the other side of town, darting through streets and alleys that reeked of monster activity. They walked in silence, seeing no need to attract more creatures than those they were looking for. Annabeth thought of different ways to tackle the problem of the empousai. There were an infinite number of places they could be hiding out, and an unknown number of reasons they would scuttle away from a fight scene like that.

She picked over the thought. The creatures only ditched _after_ they lunged or got in a good scratch. They were trying to grab the attention of Annabeth and Rachel. Why? The girls knew they were there. The empousai must have been trying to tell them something- but why not just say it?

Then it hit her: The answer, and a body flying out from the dusty brick shadows.

Annabeth unsheathed her dagger and struggled to flip her attacker. She was lying on the dirty New York street, an empousa holding her down.

It hissed. "Annabeth Chase! So nice to see you! I've heard a lot about you. Never met you though. Now it seems I finally have the honor." It grinned between blood-red lips, two fangs peeking out. She said the word '_honor_' with sarcasm as heavy as she was. The demigod fought to fill her lungs with the creature's weight on top of her.

The empousa's claws dug into her shoulders. It- or _she_- was wearing a shabby, red-and-white cheerleader's uniform with the words "GO TEAM!" on the front. It smelled of flesh and mothballs, a strong concoction that made Annabeth drowsy.

Annabeth bent her knee and jabbed it into the empousa's stomach. The creature gasped and the girl brought her dagger down. The empousa rolled out of the way, then managing to pin her before she could get up again. Where were the others? Why weren't they helping her?

"Don't worry," snarled the empousa with the annoying, high-school-girl voice most of her kind had. She fought to keep hold of the girl. "I don't want to hurt you. Or your friends. Don't worry about them, either. They're just up ahead- with my friends."

Annabeth strained her neck to see Rachel, Isabelle, and Clary, each with an empousa trapping her. All four of them could've fought off their attackers with ease any other day. She had the feeling it had something to do with the smell the monsters carried on them now. Not as sickly-sweet as chloroform, but enough to keep them dozy. The work of the Mist, she thought.

The creature returned her gaze to Annabeth. "I don't like your new friends. What happened to your hot boyfriend, anyway? He didn't join you? You two are dating now, right? I suppose he doesn't care enough to come with you."

"Shut up!" shouted Annabeth with more intensity than she intended.

"Oh, but I wish I did!" The empousa licked her lips. "Black hair, green eyes, long lashes… He is allllll the rage around Olympus. And New York. You don't know how much I would just _love_ to sink my fangs into him."

A little revolted, Annabeth said, "That's not why you're here."

"Right. Well. I just came to tell you that we've been trying to show you something. So, come check it out when you get the chance. I'm sure you'll love it." She grinned a horrible grin and darted off with the three other empousai. Annabeth was unable to see where they had gone; she was lying on the ground, and too tired to catch up.

After several moments, she sat up. Isabelle approached her and knelt to offer a hand. Annabeth took it. "Your boyfriend sounds hot," the tall girl stated.

Annabeth rubbed the stupor out of her forehead. "Thanks."


End file.
